Spring closing and holding device for car-journal-box lids



w. F. RICHARDS.

SPRING CLOSING AND HOLDING'DEVICE FOR CAR JOURNAL BO'X LIDS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 2|, 1918- I Patented Mart30, 1920.

w VE/V 702?. WK

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLARD F. RICHARDS, OF LANCASTER, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOB TO GOULD COUPLERCOMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

SEEING- CLOSING AND HOLDING DEVICE FOR CAR-JOURNAL-BOX LIDS.

Application filed June 21, 1918.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLARD F. RICHARDS, a citizen of the United States,residing at Lancaster, in the county of Erie and State of New York, haveinvented a new and useful Improvement in Spring Closing and HoldingDevices for Car-Journal--Box Lids, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to spring actuated devices for closing the lidsof car journal boxes and holding the lids closed under spring pressure,and also for releasably retaining the lids in the open position whenraised.

In car journal boxes of the accepted M. C. B. type the lid is hinged atits upper end to open upwardly and is pressed against the outer end ofthe journal box and held in closed position by a leaf spring which isfixed at its lower endon the inside of the lid and bears at its freeupper end against the hinge lug on top of the journal box. The springbears on a flattened face at the outer or front side of the hinge lugfor holding the lid closed, and when the lid is opened the spring passesover the upper corner of the lug and bears on the top of the lug forretaining the lid in the open position. These leaf springs are a sourceof much annoyance and expense because the free or movable portion of thespring is necessarily relatively short on account of the size of the lidand the springs are frequently broken or are caused to take a permanentset and thus rendered inoperative because of the necessary fiexure ofthe free end of the spring incident to the opening and closing of thelid.

One object of this invention is to provide a journal box lid with arelia le and durable spring-actuated device for closing the lid andreleasably holding it in the closed and opened positions, of aconstruction enabling lid-s equipped with the devices to be used on M.C. B. journal boxes now in use in place of the lids thereof having leatspring closing devices, and which will securely hold the'lid in closedposition and reduce to the minimum the outward pressure on the upperportion of the lid tending to prevent a tight closure of this portion ofthe lid.

Another object of the invention is to provide an efficient andreliablespring-actuated journal box lid-closing and holding deviceSpecification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 30, 1920.

Serial No. 241,132.

of a novel construction which insures a tight closure of the lid andwhich presses the lid firmly against the mouth of the journal box at allpoints.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is an elevation, partly in section, of the outer end of a carjournal box provided with a lid closing and holding device embodying theinvention.

Fig. 2 1s a sectional elevation thereof on line 2-2, Fig. 1, showing byfull and broken lines the closed and open positions of the lid.

A represents the journal box, the outer end portion only of which isshown, and B the lid for closing the usual opening or mouth a in theouter end of the journal box. The lid, as usual, is hinged at its upperend to swing upwardly and downwardly, preferably by the usual hinge pina passing through hinge lugs 0 on the lid and through a hinge lug C onthe journal box between the lugs of the lid. The outer portion of thejournal box including this hinge lug C is of the construction commonlyemployed in M. C. B. journal boxes, so that lids with the closing andholding devices forming the subject of this invention can be used on M.C. B. journal boxes now in use to replace the usual M. C. B. lids. Thelug C has the usual flattened front or outer face 0 between the ends ofthe lug against which the upper end of the spring closing device on thelid bears to hold the lid closed, and a flattened top or upper face 0against which the closing device bears to hold the lid open. d is theusual inwardly proj ecting" marginal flange on the lid adapted tosurround the mouth of the journal box for preventing the entrance ofsnow, rain and dust into the box.

The spring-actuated lid-closing and holding device comprises a bellcrank lever E pivoted on the inner side of the lid B below the lidhinge, and a coil spring F arranged between a spring support or abutmenton the inside of the lid and one arm of the lever i01- pressing theother arm of the lever against the hinge lug C on the journal box. Thelever E is suitably pivoted at its angle or middle portion on thejournal box lid near the upper end of the mouth a of the journal box,the lever, in the construction shown,

being pivoted on a pin 6 which passes through a long. hub or sleeve 6 onthe lever and through bearings 6 proj ectinginw'ardly from the journalbox lid at opposite sides of the lever E. The lever has an arm or por-'tion 6 which extends upwardly from the lever pivot and is adapted tobear at its upper end against the hinge lug C on the journal box, and asecond arm or portion 6 which projects outwardly from the lever pivot,preferably into a recessed outwardly projecting portion or pocket 9 ofthe journal box lid. This outwardly projecting arm of the lever bears onthe upper end of the coil spring F, which bears at its lower end on aspring support or abutment g projecting inwardly from the lower portionof the journal box lid. This spring support or abutment and theoutwardly projecting arm of the bell crank lever are preferably providedwith studs or projections h h which enter the ends of thespring forretaining the spring in place. The spring extends substantiallyvertically upwardly from its support 9 or at an angle divergingoutwardly from the inclined plane of the mouth a on the journal box sothat the spring and bell crank lever in effect react against the journalbox lid and the lug C on the journal box substantially in the directionindicated by the bent or angular dotted line 00*00. The spring and bellcrank lever exert a downwardly and inward pressure on the journal boxlid, the force thus exerted acting to firmly press the lid inwardly anddownwardly throughout its circumference against the mouth of the journalbox. The spring acts upwardly against the outwardly projecting arm ofthe bell crank lever at a point outwardly beyond the pivot for the leverand the point of engagement of the upper arm of the lever with the hingelug C, and the upper edge of the lid as well as the other portionthereof are held in close, firm contact with.the mouth of the journalbox, and a tight reliable closure of the lid throughout is thereforeeffected. When the journal box lid is raised, the upwardly projectingarm of the lever E will yield outwardly and pass over the corner of thehinge lug C and bear on the flattened top face of the lug, as indicatedby broken lines in Fig. 2, thereby holding the lid open. A relativelylong strong spring F can be employed so that a strong pressure of thelid against the box is insured and at the same time an extended movementof the upwardly projecting arm of the bell crank lever is permittedwithout danger of compressing the spring to an'extent to injure it orcause it to take a permanent set. The described arrangement there foreeffectually overcomes the objections to the use of the flat or leafsprings ordinarily employed on the M. C. B. journal box lids.

Since the outer end of the journal box and the hinge lug C conform tothe M. C. B.

requirements, the lid B equipped with the described closing and holdingdevice E F can be used on the ordinary M. O. B. journal box and the M.C. B. lids can be used on the ournal box A, the lid thus beinginterchangeable with the ordinary lids now in use.

I claim as my invention:

1. The combination of a journal box, a lid hinged to the upper outerportion of said box, a lever pivoted on said lid below the lid hinge andhaving an arm extending outwardly with respect to the box from the leverpivot and'an arm extending upwardly from the lever pivot and bearingwhen the lid is closed against an outwardly facing fixed part of thejournal box at a point above the axis of the lid hinge, and a springbearing against a part of the lid and acting ing an upwardly projectinghinge lug at its.

outer endprovided with flattened outer and top faces, a lidhinged tosaid hinge lug, a

lever pivoted on said lid below the lid hinge and having an armextending outwardly with respect to the box from the lever pivot and anarm extending upwardly from the lever pivot and adapted to bear againstsaid outer face of the hinge lug when the lid is closed and against saidtop face of the lug when the lid is open, and a spring bearing against apart of the lid and acting upwardly against said outwardly projectingarm of the lever.

3. The combination of a journal box, a lid hinged to the upper outerportion of said box, a lever pivoted on the upper portion of said lidbelow the lid hinge and having an arm extending outwardly with. respectto the box from the lever pivot and an arm extending upwardly from thelever pivot and bearing when the lid is closed against an outwardlyfacing fixed part of the journal box at a point above the axis of thelid hinge, and a coil spring hearing at its lower end against anabutment on the lower part of the lid and at its upper end against saidoutwardly extending arm of the-lever at a point outwardly beyond a lineconnecting the pivotal axis of the lever and the point of bearing of theupwardly extending arm of the lever against the journal box.

4. The combination of a journal box, a lid hinged to the upper outerportion of said box, a lever pivoted on the upper portion of said lidbelow the lid hinge and having an arm extending outwardly with respectto the box from the lever pivot and an arm extending upwardly from thelever pivot and bearing when the lid is closed against an outwardlyfacing fixed part of the journal box at a point above the axis of thelid hinge, and a coil spring bearing at its lower end against anabutment on the lower part of the lid and at its upper end against saidoutwardly extending arm of the lever, Witness my hand, this 18th day ofJune,

the axis of said spring being coincident with 1918.

a line extendin downwardl and inWar from the point of bearing of thespring WILLARD RICHARDS against said lever arm and crossing theWitnesses:

plane of contact of the lid with the journal DONALD G. DAVIS,

box. ALLEN B. BRIMMER.

